


472. echoes

by piggy09



Series: The Sestre Daily Drabble Project [30]
Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 15:25:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7623979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piggy09/pseuds/piggy09
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eleven year old Helena and Sarah find the Mirror of Erised. Spoilers! It's sad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	472. echoes

“I had to bribe the Fat Lady to get out,” Sarah whispers, “so this had better be good.”

“I sang to the pear,” Helena says, unconcerned. The two of them blink at each other, discover again what it is to tell a joke that another part of you doesn’t know the punchline to. Helena reaches out and grabs Sarah’s hand. Squeezes. She tears her eyes away from the red-red-gold of Sarah’s tie.

“Hi,” she says.

“Hi,” Sarah says back. “Miss you.”

Helena nods, bites the inside of her lip so she doesn’t cry. They’re _eleven_ now. Eleven-year-olds don’t cry. Not like babies.

She’s startled when Sarah pulls her into a hug, tight and crushing; she isn’t startled enough, though, that she forgets to hug Sarah back. She would never. Sarah’s hair still smells like the shampoo they brought to Hogwarts in the bottom of their kicked-up foster-home suitcases. That is to say: it still smells like home.

“Come on,” Helena says, “it’s good.” She grabs Sarah’s hand and tugs her through the hallways.

Helena _likes_ Hogwarts. Like – um – well, she likes the people in Hogwarts, she likes the teachers who don’t get mad when she accidentally lights things on fire, she likes the _food_ (oh! the food! she loves the food), she likes the other Hufflepuffs. But she also likes Hogwarts itself. It makes sense to her. Skip this stair, tip your hat at that painting, don’t go through that door. She’s been exploring.

And she’s been waiting to show Sarah. She wants to show Sarah only the most perfect things, only her most favorite parts.

They hop down the stairs (skip that one—) and Helena listens to Sarah talk the whole time.

“The other Gryffindors are cool,” she says, “not as cool as you, but I like ‘em. Beth says she’s gonna be Quidditch captain. Quidditch is this sport where you get on a broom and it _flies_.”

“I want to play,” Helena says immediately.

“Yeah, I know, but you have to play for the _Hufflepuff_ team.”

“Oh,” Helena says. She frowns. That silence is between them, again: the hat said you were like _this_ , and it said I was like _that_. Why wasn’t I like _this_. Why weren’t you like _that_.

“At least you’re not a Slytherin,” Sarah says as a peace offering. “They’re all evil. Beth said.”

“All of them?” Helena says, trying to remember. Mostly they had all looked like little kids, like her and Sarah. When the Sorting Hat said one girl was Slytherin she’d burst into tears. That doesn’t really seem evil to her. But if Sarah says it, it must be true.

“All of ‘em,” Sarah says, so it’s true. And they’re here.

Helena tiptoes into the empty classroom. There’s a big mirror standing in the corner, and she tugs Sarah over. Huh. She frowns at the image; it hasn’t changed. When it had showed her the two of them holding hands, the first time, she thought this must be the way to make it do magic. But it’s not doing magic.

“I don’t get it,” Sarah says. She frowns at the image in the glass; she looks almost like she’s going to cry.

“It’s—” Helena says, and then stops. Their ties are the same color, in the glass. In the reflection. They’re the same color. Her heart hurts.

“It’s great, Helena,” Sarah says, and lets go of Helena’s hand to start poking at the mirror. “Whoa, I think these are _real rubies_.”

Helena stays standing alone in front of the mirror. In the reflection, Sarah is still holding her hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please kudos + comment if you enjoyed! :)


End file.
